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I write this because things are far different now for our returning veterans. Many of them are coming back from a war zone and they bear the scars either physically or emotionally. The transition from "Hell on Earth" to home is not an easy one. Some have a very hard time getting on with their lives and they end up on the wrong side of the law. From what they have sacrificed for us, we owe them the chance to turn their lives around and get back on track.
That's where veterans courts come in.
I was first alerted to this effort by a feature story on CBS News this past week. I then did some research and found articles on the Los Angeles Times and Pittsburgh Post Gazette web sites.
From what I've been able to gather, the courts are relatively new. The first of its kind was established in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2008. They're modeled after drug courts, giving offenders a chance to clean up their lives instead of going to prison. Offenders do not "walk away" because they are veterans. They are held accountable, but through the Veterans Administration when possible, rather than immediate imprisonment. They are strictly monitored and given counseling and rehab opportunities. Failure to comply means jail time, but for many this form of "tough love" is just what they need.
The CBS report by David Martin featured the story of ex-Marine Nick Stefanovic who fought bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he got home, he tried to get back into the normal routine of going to college, but the nightmares and flashbacks kept haunting him. He eventually became hooked on the pain killer Oxycontin as his life unraveled. It was the tough love shown by a compassionate judge in a veterans court that got him the help he needed to get his life back again. (The complete story is at the CBS News web site.)
In a March 2009 article, Nicholas Riccardi of the LA Times interviewed counselor Robert Alvarez, an advocate for this type of court.
"Some families give their sons or daughters to service for their country, and they're perfectly good kids. And they come back from war and just disintegrate before our eyes," he said. "Is it fair to put these kids in prison because they served and got injured?"
No, it's not fair. We owe them a second and third chance if necessary to help get back what was taken away from them by their willingness to serve our country. (I wonder what would have happened if these kinds of courts would have been established for our veterans from the Vietnam era?)
The Times article points out that there are "no comprehensive statistics how often veterans get in trouble with the law, and the majority never become entangled with the legal system." However, it states that most experts agree that combat trauma can lead to problems.
A bit closer to home, Senator Arlen Specter recently hosted a hearing on veterans courts in Pittsburgh, a city whose own court system began working with veterans this past November. According to a Post Gazette article by Paula Reed Ward, about two dozen veterans are already getting help in the Pittsburgh area where more than 3,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans live.
How many war veterans live in our Tri-County area? How many are included in the pages of police reports we read each day? They answered when their nation called for help and now we have to answer their call for help.
I'm proud of my military service, but it pales in comparison to what we're asking of our young people now. We owe it to these veterans to give them the help they need, and that includes those who have a hard time adjusting and get into trouble.
I believe if they haven't already, the judges in the counties in this area should begin the process of establishing veterans courts. In the words of Senator Specter, "...we owe a great debt to the veterans we haven't begun to repay."
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Sam Bundy is a freelance contributor to Tri-County Sunday/the Courier-Express. He is a teacher at DuBois Area High School, and is a pastor at an area church. He lives near Reynoldsville. E-mail: sbundy76@verizon.net. His blog can be found at : www.bloglines.com/blog/sbundy76
